


Over the Lunar Horizon

by Wilson_the_Gorilla (Wilson_The_Gorilla)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 14:34:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7980154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wilson_The_Gorilla/pseuds/Wilson_the_Gorilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winston remembers life after the uprising on the Lunar Horizon Moon Base</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It's dark outside, but the moon glows brightly. Dark brown birds circle the sea just out of Gibraltar's watchpoint. Winston gently thuds along the metal of his empty home, and gazes at the sky.

"It's funny, man always had a saying about the man on the moon. Turns out they killed him." He murmurs. He plods along the base until he reaches the water and looks out along the birds. He feels a pang of guilt and regret, and claws at his armor. They continue to coast along the water, uninterested in their spectator. "Wilson's storm petrel. They always seem to haunt me. I can't escape you can I?"

He started off in the other direction. He had a job to do, no matter how he truly felt about the past. The satellite had been launched, but Gibraltar still had a lot of work left in it if he was going to bring back Overwatch. "There is still a lot of unresolved threats in this world" he thinks, a chill running down his spine.

Winston gives a glance over his shoulder to the moon one final time. At the scar that blighted his old home. Did it seem larger? It must be his imagination. The birds had egged him on, clearly. He was being irrational.

* * *

Screams jolt him awake. Still in his custom fit banana footie pajamas, the gorilla scrambles out of bed. What was that noise? It sounded like the scientists from the lab, but he couldn't be sure. The damned metal walls of the colony muffled anything to inaudibility. As he continues out into the hall, he sees all the base in complete disarray. Furniture has been smashed, belongings are strewn along the floor, and there's a trail of red leading somewhere. Glass is shatters and glitters in the florescent lights. He panics and bounds down the hall, away from the blood and the destruction.

_I can only hope that nothing's really happened._ he thinks, sliding around corners without slowing down. Fumbling over himself, the gorilla can't help but yelp as he collides with a wall. He's careful to avoid anything sharp, and keeps an eye out for glass, but aside from that he has one goal in mind. The door he's after comes into view, and he's so close he could scream.

**_BANG_ **

He slams into the door, and presses on the control pad. He's a bit of a VIP, and he's thanking Harold for that one. He fumbles in the frame just enough to order the door to close behind him. He sighs a breath of relief. He made it in once piece, even if there was nothing going on. He turns around long enough to see what's happened.

_Where's Harold?_

He walks over to his bed, curiously unmade. Harold was always a bit of a stickler for neatness, and always made his bed if he wasn't in it. As he goes for the opposite end of the room, there's a thump from the closet. His heart leaps into his throat and his fur bristles. He cautiously shambles toward the door, and reaches his hand out to open it.

The door slams open, and Dr. Winston falls out, yelling something unintelligible. He's brandished a wire hangar and a broken pair of scissors in his hands, eyes closed in fear. Dr. Winston tenses for only a brief moment, and he grits his teeth. He goes to swing before peeking just out of one to see which one of his children has forsaken him, when...

"Buddy?"

Buddy bolts back, slammed against the wall. He shakes, uncertain of his fate. Why would Dr. Winston be doing this? A million thoughts move through him, and uncertainty plagues his mind as he trembles. Feeling ill he wails in fear, knowing he physically cannot cry. The only thing that humans had on him, and the only thing he envied.

Dr. Winston drops his weapons. Metal clangs as he drops to his knees, hands out in front of him. Tears flow from his eyes, and his voice cracks even though he's not trying to speak. He leans to one side, almost as if he's afraid to move in the other direction. No words are spoken for minutes, and the air is filled with tension, tears, and wailing. Buddy notices that he's bleeding on his side through his coat, and moves off of the wall to inspect the wound.

"Who hurt you...like this?" He questions. He flaps the coat open, and on Harold's side there's a torn hole in his shirt. And alongside the hole there lies a set of matching teeth marks. A hand quickly goes to Buddy's mouth, and he's speechless. He can't believe that what he heard was true. The other gorillas were in unrest.

"They attacked us in the lab. Most of the others are dead, but I managed to sneak out in the chaos. One of them managed to get me before I ran for my room." He smiles. He coughs, and red comes out. "They're probably going to come here next. I can't imagine they're going to skip my room on the list of places to look for me. Ah well, I'm likely to die anyway."

_That's blood._

"My ribs are broken, and my lungs are filling with blood. If I move much more I risk cutting my lungs again. Air might get into my blood stream. But thank god you're safe." Dr. Winston says. He slowly rearranges to lay on the ground, taking care not to compress his right side. He lies still on his back, with his coat bunched around his wound. "It's not your fault, they aren't like you. They aren't bright enough to see what makes them really special and needed. But, you might survive if they think you're like them. And if they see me like this they have no reason to believe you didn't cause at least some of it."

"Why are you talking like you won't survive?!" Buddy screams. He slams the ground. "It doesn't make sense! Why are they hurting you? You're helping them!"

Dr. Winston chuckles. "I don't have time to give you all the answers, and you wouldn't even like them if I did give them to you. But I'll tell you why they're hurting me. Because, Buddy. They're animals. After all of this, only you've proven to be like I am. Like all the scientists. Just remember that you're better than them, and even us. Don't let the world tell you how to be."

More silence. What feels like years pass, and Dr. Winston looks up.

"There's only one way out of this for you. I can't call Earth to send anyone to grab you and stop the others. If you want to get out alive to get to Earth, then I need you to finish what they started."

* * *

Screams jolt him awake. They were his own. Winston blots himself with his sheets. He gets up, only wanting two things. He plants his knuckles firmly on the ground, stiffs his wrists, swings his legs. Everything seems so mechanical after what he relived. He cracks into a jar of peanut butter and grabs a banana. He eats faster than he's ever eaten before in his life.

 

An ethereal voice comes from the base. "Another nightmare?"

 

"The same set of them Athena. I'll just keep reliving them. Maybe until I die."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winston recalls his "brother."

Buddy sits alone, away from his gorilla brethren. Last week, the gorillas in the encampment had an uprising and killed all scientists deployed to the Horizon Lunar Colony. In a last ditch attempt to save his life, Dr. Harold Winston took his life. The other gorillas busted down the door as Buddy hid in the very closet Dr. Winston had just moments ago. Impressed and bewildered, the pack leader spared him. They left him alone, a true blessing. However, this morning he was retrieved for a meeting by order of the leader.

"Today is the day we have risen! We are mighty! We are valid!" The pack leader screams. "We are free of the shackles of the oppressor! No more will we be experimented on for the good of others not our own!"

The crowd goes _ape_.

Buddy huddles closer to the corner he's seated next to. His eyes glaze over, and he tries to tune it out. He has to think of his survival. He has to get to Earth. He's busy planning his escape, in order to validate the wishes of the man who gave his life for this opportunity.

"The first order of business is to choose our identities for ourselves! What will you be named, brothers? We shall shuck the given names we had! No longer shall we be defined by what our 'creators' thrust upon us!"

The endless chatter of gorillas echo throughout the building. Buddy holds his only possession in his hand. The identification of Dr. Harold Winston. He flips is idly. His own identity, free from everyone else. Is that what they really wanted after all of this? He scowled harder. That was something he already had. He has a hard time believing that someone could believe this propaganda so readily. _This rebellion was a farce! A power play to feel important,_ thought Buddy, before scoffing audibly. _These barbarians are out of their minds. They have no concept of what it means to be enslaved if they believed we were_ _mistreated._

Suddenly, everyone turns to him. He had thought so long that they already gave their names in something resembling a tribal ritual. They look at him expectantly. He turns bright red, before looking away. He could not think of a single thing just to get him away from this question and this situation. He couldn't deny them either, he knew he could not afford to buck something that required a meeting, even if he found it trivial.

"My name is to be Winston." He softly says. An invisible act of transgression and treason. They wanted unique identifiers from humans, but Winston tied him to the only person he cared about.

The pack looks at each other uneasily. They murmur, and the newly deemed Winston beings to panic. The talking is brought to a halt by a hand from the leader. He stands back towards the front, separating from the group again. He smiles.

"There is no problem, although it is close to the name I have chosen. I crave self-expression for you my brother. Wilson and Winston shall be inseparable, as will all of us be!" He announces.

_Wilson..._

* * *

 

Winston's eyes snap open. He feels the sweat pour out of him. Wilson the Gorilla. His "brother" who allowed him to live. The one who inspired the death of all the science on the moon.

"What is your status Winston?" Athena asks, her soothing voice placing Winston in a state of ease.

"You can check yourself, can't you?" He mumbles, securing his armor to his body. He huffs and sighs as he goes.

"As I recall you forbade me from running diagnostic scans, unless my memory banks are insufficient."

"I don't remember making you so snarky."

Another day marked off the calendar. He secretly hopes the days move quickly, and his sleep moves even quicker. The rest of Overwatch would be meeting here soon, and he could use the company from someone other than the computer he created.

He sits in his trusty chair and turns on the news. The anchor seems concerned, but isn't saying anything. She's just slack jawed and staring into the camera with a dead man's stare. She coughs before straightening her prop papers.

  
"According to NASA, beginning last night there was an increase of activity located on the Horizon Lunar Moon Base."

* * *

Wilson had cornered him. It had been weeks since he chose his name and tried to assimilate on this base. He wasn't fairing too well.

"Brother, why do you cling to the remnants of the humans so closely? They did not respect us as people! People they made!" Wilson shouted. Winston looked over his shoulder, and avoided eye contact. Wilson sighed and brought his hand to his head. "You're upsetting our brothers and sisters in the base. You're such a bright mind Winston. A visionary who can bring prosperous life to Gorillakind here on Horizon, and maybe even gorillas on Earth!"

"I just was a little closer to them than you were is all." He mumbled. His original goal was to never allude to his original upbringing, but as Wilson engaged him he quickly gave way. He knew he was under a degree of protection, a gift given by Wilson and his control over the pack. He wanted Winston to develop technology and prove to humanity they were a threat and needed to be taken seriously.

Wilson frowned at the answer given. He leaned in uncomfortably close. "Listen, brother, I'm aware you were the favorite of that blasted scientist but do you realize what they did to us? Do you realize that the rest of us weren't as gifted as you and were treated like we were in a zoo? You had other clothes, and were allowed to experiment. We were sequestered away and monitored closely. Strapped in for diagnostics, locked into cells with beds unchanged." He pulls out a gun, and Winston recoils. "I don't care what you feel, just do what's right for us as a people."

Winston nods, intimidated by the show of force. He breaths easy once Wilson steps out. He wonders, actively, where he's gotten a human gun from. As the days passed, the "revolutionary" was growing ever more brutish. Winston shrugs, and decides he is ultimately unbothered. Gazing out onto his project, he knows confidently that there is no soul on this station that knows his true plans. He had devised a truly naughty plan and it was time to put it to action. It was time to make a rocket back home.


End file.
